Page 34 of Music of the Ocean

But first, the body had to heal before the mind could accept what was. He just had to keep reminding himself of that fact.

Indigo settled deeper into the mesh next to Saxby and counted his slow, even breaths. As he also drifted off, he allowed himself to imagine what it might be like when Saxby let go of the anger.

Chapter Thirteen – Saxby

THE SIREN hit like a gut punch that ripped Saxby out of his sleep and left his heart slamming against his ribs. He shot upright, gulping a huge mouthful of water before he remembered he didn’t need to breathe like a human anymore.

Even so, his body braced for a threat, and his new gills snapped wide, fluttering as if tasting the ocean for danger.

The world spun. Indigo was there, standing at a nearby wall, every tentacle fanned out and vibrating with tension. Even half asleep, Saxby recognized the way Indigo’s body flexed—fight, not flight.

“What the hell is that?” Saxby demanded.

“Alarm for a probe,” Indigo tossed over his shoulder. “From your ship.”

Saxby’s mind caught up, and he understood. “They’re looking for me.” He pressed his palm to the translucent wall, feeling the city’s skin vibrate with the noise. “Shit, they’re looking for me or the shuttle. Or both.”

Vance would’ve flagged his escape the second he hacked his way out of isolation. Then, he stole a damned shuttle and crashed into the surface. The very least the caption would do was send a probe.

There would probably be a search and rescue party sent out, and oh shit, no, that was the last thing that needed to happen because if anyone touched the damned water…. shit. Just no.

The only surprise was that it had taken this long for Captain Mollen to react. And speaking of that, why had it taken this long?

“How long was I asleep?”

“Three standard hours, so not long.”

Saxby ran a hand over his face, the new webbing catching on his cheek, and tried to process the implications. If Vance or anyone else came down here, if they touched the water, the same thing would happen to them.

The planet would not hesitate to claim them. The idea made his stomach knot with worry. He would not, could not, allow anyone else to be trapped like this, to be fused into a new shape with no way back.

“They’re going to look for me, and that’s the last thing that needs to happen. I can’t be responsible for anyone else ending up like me, dammit,” Saxby said slowly.

The words echoed in the bedchamber, and he felt the weight of them settle into the hollow place where his certainty used to live. Which meant he would never be leaving here.

The thought landed with a dull finality, and for a moment, Saxby could barely hear the siren over the sound of his own pulse. He tried to picture what it would mean to never leave the bottom of the ocean, the architecture that shifted when you blinked, the constant hum of thoughts from others, and the creature beside him.

Saxby pictured years stretching out. Learning the language, growing into the new body, becoming something unrecognizable to his old self and the people he’d left behind.

Was that spark of something rising in his chest fear or excitement for a new adventure? He shook his head, trying to clear it, but nothing helped. Indigo’s attention turned to him, heavy and warm and impossible to ignore. Maybe it wouldn’t be so terribly bad after all.

Maybe.

Indigo pressed his hand to the wall and closed his eyes. The chamber flickered with pulses of raw blue, the city’s nervous system lighting up in ways Saxby hadn’t seen before.

“Whoa, that’s cool. And, well, very convenient.”

“I will not allow them to take you.”

“But, but how?” Saxby questioned.

“The probe will be rendered inoperable, as they always are.”

Saxby’s mind spun through the chain of events he’d set in motion. His escape, the disregarded orders, the crash. If they recovered any telemetry, they’d see the impact zone, maybe even a splash of biological residue on the surface, and they’d send probes, yes, but—

“We’ve never been able to see below the surface, but that won’t stop them. It won’t matter how many probes you disable. They’ll keep sending more. They won’t stop looking for me. I went AWOL. They aren’t going to ignore that! They can’t.”

“It does not matter. They will not be allowed to find anything.”